A woman should marry
her equal. He will, in a worldly sense, be more than your equal some
day; but that is nothing. A man should be head of the household.
"It is good, and nice, and loving of you, my child, to wish to endow
your husband with all your worldly goods; but your husband ought, before
he takes you, to have goods of his own wherewith to endow you. Now, now,
now, don't purse up your pretty mouth, and try to controvert a lawyer's
wisdom. You are both young: you have plenty of time before you.
"He ought to be given an opportunity of showing what he can do, and
you ought to mix in society and see whether you meet anyone you
think you can like better. There is no worse time for finding out a
mistake of that sort, than after marriage." And so the kind soul
prosed on, and would, possibly, have gone on prosing for a few hours
more, had I not interrupted one of his sentences by saying I would
not have Miss Elmsdale bound by any engagement, or consider herself
other than free as air.
"Well, well," he answered, testily, "we understand that thoroughly. But
I suppose you do not intend to cast the young lady's affections from you
as if they were of no value?"
At this juncture her eyes and mine met. She smiled, and I could not help
smiling too.
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